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As head of policy at Christian Aid, a key member of the ACT Alliance, Alison Kelly has an eye on sustainable development in what is seen as the prophetic voice of the church, which has a busy year in 2015.

Christians need a "spirituality of resistance" to face oppression, violence and experiences of defeat, the WCC general secretary said in an address at Germany’s biggest Protestant gathering.

An independent commission on international tax reform initiated by a coalition of organizations including the WCC is calling for an overhaul of the global taxation system to alleviate poverty in developing nations including the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Global health and religious leaders meeting at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva have noted the essential role faith-based organizations play in providing health services.In a consultation entitled: “The future of faith-based health care provision”, participants related some of their experiences in responding to the global Ebola crisis.

Anglican and Reformed member churches of the WCC have taken significant new actions toward climate justice.

The ACHAP has urged governments in the region to engage strongly with church-based health bodies as crucial partners in achieving Universal Health Care, at the conclusion of its biannual meeting in Nairobi, Kenya.

The idea that HIV is present in the life of every human being, regardless of their susceptibility to the disease, could be seen as shocking. It could even be offensive.

The Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan’s diocese of Wau has developed a course titled “Reconcile - Moving Forward in Peace”, inviting people to be peace-builders this Lenten season.

United Nations leaders and the WCC have agreed that the international community and faith leaders need to cooperate more on working to fight the scourge of the deadly Ebola virus.

The “pilgrimage is both a way to continue working for the one ecumenical movement and a way to move forward in our times that offer new dimensions, opportunities and practices,” said the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

In Africa, where up to 40 percent of the health care facilities are provided by faith based organizations, Dr Mirfin Mpundu, executive director of the Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network, says that due to their unique position churches can play a special role in eliminating HIV and AIDS and bringing improvements in the lives of people living with the virus.

Grateful for the opportunity of working for a global fellowship of the churches, the two new interns at the WCC aspire to use their personal and professional experiences from Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the WCC’s work on gender justice and health issues.

“HIV and AIDS is not just a public health issue. It is a multi-layered social issue – an issue churches in West Africa should not ignore,” says Rev. Godson Lawson, a pastor in the Methodist Church in Togo, a country where 110,000 people are living with HIV and 6,600 lives have been lost to the pandemic, according to recent UNAIDS estimates.

To respond to the Ebola crisis in West Africa, which has taken more than 3,000 lives, the WCC brought to the table representatives of Christian aid organizations and United Nations agencies to learn from each other and to escalate their efforts.

Although climate change is often thought of as something external to an individual person, it is interwoven with personal spirituality, as well. This was the conclusion of a panel of three faith leaders during a session at the Interfaith Summit on Climate Change held on 22 September.

Inspired by the theme “pilgrimage of justice and peace”, the Central Committee of the WCC, a chief governing body of the Council, has set directions for the work of the Council from 2014 to 2017.

Early struggles in developing a response to the HIV and AIDS pandemic were remembered by African women church leaders who gathered in Nairobi, Kenya to celebrate more than 30 years of their Christian ministry in the churches of their region.

Women from churches across Africa have gathered in Kenya to focus on the achievements, challenges and opportunities of women's ministry in African churches over the past 30 years, as well as their responses to the HIV and AIDS pandemic.

African churches must confidently step into the lives of minority groups suffering from HIV and AIDS supporting them irrespective of their circumstances, said, author of A Walk at Midnight: Journeying with Abused Women and Girls towards inner Dignity and Wholeness, Catherine Mumbi Wanjohi, known for her work with sex workers facing the threat of HIV and AIDS in Kenya.

Religious beliefs and traditions in Africa continue to influence the way HIV is spread, especially among young women. There is a great need to understand these issues from a faith-based perspective, so that church leaders may engage in a constructive dialogue to help and support women threatened by the pandemic.